DVD round-up, Nov 28

It's a multicultural affair this week as Kristin Scott Thomas stars in another French film and Carrie Bradshaw heads to Abu Dhabi

Kristin Scott Thomas is outstanding in Leaving (Metrodome)
It’s ironic that one of the best British actors has deep roots elsewhere.
Kristin Scott Thomas may be the queen of the stiff upper lip, as seen in
Four Weddings and a Funeral and Gosford Park, but she is also an ardent
Francophile. This adds up to a whole adult life spent in Paris and a
selection of French films: Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One, Philippe Claudel’s
I’ve Loved You So Long, and here, Catherine Corsini’s Leaving.

French cinema is in a bit of a parlous state, no longer churning out classics
of La Nouvelle Vague like there’s no tomorrow. But when Scott Thomas is
involved, it finds form. In Leaving, the actress plays Suzanne, a bored
housewife who has an affair with her builder. Summarised like this, it
sounds a bit Bovary-lite, but what we get here is a deep personal tragedy,
subtly acted, as she struggles to escape